Chain Waxing

Is there anything in Squirt that would make it better than plain wax? Half of Squirt would surely be applicator of some sort to thin it out so you can squirt it on and have it evaporate leaving only wax.

It's just water.

Do they have any additives in the wax that's left that would make it better than bog standard paraffin? I mean, you can DIY the additives anyway but I only care about cleanliness, not performance so I use paraffin only to keep it clean.

Empty bigger Squirt bottle into tupperware. Drop a clean, dry chain in and leave over night. Remove, wipe off excess wax. Dry. Ride.

I’m not sure what I’m gaining over hot wax, but I felt like trying it.

I've found Squirt tends to gunk up and congeal all over my jockey wheels and chainrings, and is a fucking pain in the arse to clean off. DIY paraffin wax mix seems to stay on the chain and is way easier to clean off with boiling water.

Also when you apply paraffin, it's easy enough to scrape off the excess before it goes near the bike so your cassette and jockeys stay pretty wax free.

I found the same with Squirt. It was nice and quiet, but the fucking gunk was misery.

I haven't, but I do two proper applications (both left overnight to dry) before the first ride. It's worked pretty well so far and I haven't had too much issues with gunk either (I wipe off the excess, maybe it helps?).

I believe for road application, Squirt recommend you wipe off excess before riding.

User error on our part then @TooTallTim

Nah, I did that, didn't make a difference

What’s the current forum recommended ultrasonic whatever parts cleaner? I doubt I’m going to get all waxy but would like to start actually looking after chains + cassettes.

I have one of the 6L DK ultrasonic ones. Been happy with it. Although I found it didn’t do great at getting off factory grease, had to use white spirits.

I’ve been really unimpressed by my first experience with chain waxing.

Did the full effort of application. Worked great for one ride, but caught in rain on way home. Dried of chain with towel and come back to the bike next day and a lot of corrosion .

Figure wax has a time and place but UK weather isn’t conductive for it unless you want to take off the chain and immediately rewax to flush out and residual moisture.

2 Attachments

it didn’t do great at getting off factory grease, had to use white spirits

You're going to have to start with a solvent degreaser whichever ultrasonic you use.

caught in rain on way home. Dried of chain with towel and come back to the bike next day and a lot of corrosion

I hate to say "I told you so", but I told you so

I thought I’d sufficiently dried the chain. Clearly not.

Also any corrosion resistant coatings on the ultegra chain didn’t last 50km with wax.

I take it you’re not a fan?

I take it you’re not a fan?

It's pointless for everyday bikes. Waxing is for minimising friction on your race bike.

It doesn't look like there's a lot of wax on that.

What brand of chain? I read that KMC chains are difficult to get wax to adhere to.

White spirit is effective but leaves a film. I think turps is recommended as last-wash before waxing.

I'm going to give this a go myself at some point this week, so keen to know your experience.

I feel the promise that minimizing friction reduces wear and extends drivechain life whilst remaining clean is oversold.

The benefits to me are ourweight at the cost that chain is going in the bin if it gets like this after one wet ride and isn’t immediately rewaxed.

It is an ultegra chain.

I Did the white sprits followed by a final rinse in denatured alcohol ahead of waxing. Got a great level of wax to bond to the chain and everything was looking good. . A lot of the outer wax quickly flakes off with the promise that it stays in the bushings.

Chain was stiff to begin with but gets better with a little bit of running in.

As tester says wax offers no corrosion protection. So any exposed metal will tend to corrode if exposed to the elements.

white spirit is effective but leave a film

Any solvent degreaser will leave a thin oil film on parts, but it will remove the majority so that the ultrasonic+detergent can get to the final layer of oil molecules and hoover them up.

When I was a boy, white spirit was called turpentine substitute. You won't gain anything by using both, in whichever order. There might be something to be said for washing with alcohol between the first solvent (hydrocarbon types including xylene, "white spirit", various terpene mixes etc.) and the final one (water), because the first solvents are generally immiscible in water but soluble in ethanol. Using alcohol to extract most of the first solvent residue leaves less work for the detergent to do, and residual alcohol dissolves in water.

I Did the white sprits followed by a final rinse in denatured alcohol ahead of waxing. Got a great level of wax to bond to the chain and everything was looking good. . A lot of the outer wax quickly flakes off with the promise that it stays in the bushings.

Well that sounds fine.

It does seem like rollers are going to get exposed even after one very wet ride, and that two chains (and almost constant waxing) is how it goes down in the UK wet.

Interdasting.

If I don't plan on using an ultrasonic cleaner in the process, could citrus degreaser (Pedros, water-soluble I think) replace the detergent?

the promise that minimizing friction reduces wear and extends drivechain life whilst remaining clean is oversold

The "remaining clean" thing has been misinterpreted. It's purely a claim that since there is no liquid lubricant on the chain, it can't wipe off on your socks/carpet/cat.

If you're going to ride in the rain, and particularly at this time of year when surface water turns into the kind of salt spray used to test anti-corrosion treatments, you want one of the KMC EPT or Connex SX range of chains and leave the factory lube in place.